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NEWS > SCIENCE > RARE TASMANIAN DEVIL COLONY BELIEVED TO BE IMMORTAL
RARE TASMANIAN DEVIL COLONY BELIEVED TO BE IMMORTAL
March 11 2010
Adelaide, Australia – The diversity of life on our planet is beyond the imagination of even the most experienced scientists. Every day new life forms are being discovered by the dozens, some microscopic, some as big as house cats, a fact which continues
to surprise and delight most in the community. It is also very likely that there are many, many more species hiding on our planet, particularly in the vast oceans that make up most of the planet. Despite our dominance of the planet Earth, there are still many surprises in store for us.
Now science has uncovered another species of life, one that could provide humanity with new insight into one of our most dreaded diseases, but could also be our ultimate undoing. The discovery of an isolated colony of Tasmanian devils which apparently have total immunity to a cancer that has been plaguing the animal throughout the state of Tasmania may provide new hope for the species which many believed could be extinct within 25 years. That immunity however may not be isolated to just cancer as some researchers believe that this particular genetic abnormality might also render the animals immune to all on comers, making them an immortal threat to humanities continued dominance of the planet.
“We think these devils may be able to see the cancer cells as foreign and mount an 
immune response against them. We think more animals might survive in the wild than we initially thought. don't think this means that we can sit back and go, 'Everything is OK,' because we've already seen that the tumor has started to evolve. But now we can say that we've got a glimmer of hope. There may be some animals that may survive this epidemic,” said lead researcher Kathy Belov to the Associated Press. “This is certainly good news for the populations here in Tasmania, but could prove disastrous to other species should they escape the island. Devils are notoriously aggressive and would prove a formidable threat to any species should they be introduced, especially this new breed which may very well not only be immortal but also indestructible.”
Though the devils are not anything like ‘Taz’ from the Looney Tunes cartoons they are known to be extremely short tempered and violent and serious threats to livestock and other domestic animals, something that would only be exacerbated should they escape their island prison.
“There are many dangerous animals on the planet but few if any are able to cause serious damage, largely because their numbers are fairly low but also because they have difficulty adapting to new environments. Human beings have done so well because of ability to adapt, of course if these devils are now indestructible the issue could be moot,” said Scrape TV Zoology analyst Cambridge Walker. “The science is still early so calling them immortal or indestructible is a little premature but if it were to prove true, they would be a formidable enemy indeed. Luckily, they are poor swimmers, so far at least.”
Tasmania is located off the north coast of Australia, which itself is very isolated from the rest of the world meaning a full scale outbreak is very unlikely.
“Really it depends on how quickly they evolve and breed. If they become really great swimmers they could easily make it to say New Guinea and from there it would be a hop skip and a jump into Asia, Europe, and Africa, taking most of the world’s land mass and killing the majority of our population,” continued Walker. “The best option, and normally I would never advocate something like this, would be to exterminate them now before they gain true immortality and advanced abilities. We are talking about the survival of the species here, not some parlour game and if we wait too long we may never be able to destroy these accursed things, damning us forever.”
Thus far the Australian government has resisted exterminating the animals, a fact which reportedly is of grave concern to the United States and UN.
Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent
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